By Phil Jarratt
Do you remember John Fraser’s 90th birthday bash, previewed in these pages a year ago?
No one who was present for the extravagant bash at his Stephen Kidd-designed Provencal mansion “Villa des dauphins” on the cliffs above Sunrise Beach ever will. More than 100 guests sipped Moet et Chandon and enjoyed three sumptuous courses while Virgilio Marino, the star tenor of Opera Australia, heading a stellar cast, entertained them at their tables. Oh my, what a night it was!
Time marches on, and the former timber baron lost his beloved wife of more than 67 years, Patricia, just last month. But with 91 just around the corner, he picked himself up, dusted himself off and resumed his daily early morning hour of table tennis, traded in his Ferrari for a canary yellow Porsche 911 Turbo (“Best car I’ve ever owned,” he winks. “Superior engineering.”) and started organizing the next big bash.
Mind you, the party won’t quite match last year’s. This one is not a number that ends in 0, for one thing, and many of the friends he would have liked to invite are unavailable for reasons that go with the territory for another. But none of that has stopped John from getting on the phone to the biggest names in Australian music, the best caterers money can buy, and setting up the best party tricks his agile nonagenarian mind can conjure, all for the enjoyment of 60 or so of his nearest and dearest.
Heading up the opera stars is Neapolitan tenor Raffaele Pierno, born on the same Naples street as Enrico Caruso, whose greatest hits he will cover, along with those of Lanza, Pavarotti and Bocelli, accompanied by pianist Leanne Warne. Also on the bill is Sydney’s versatile virtuoso violinist Melissa Voyias who moves from classical to contemporary and back again in a spellbinding set.
John, who is threatening to wear his Porsche-matching canary yellow dinner suit, has laid out a dress code in keeping with his own sartorial elegance. Ladies are asked to come in “elegant attire” while gentlemen are requested to don “smart long sleeve dress shirt, long dress trousers, and shoes.” As they work their way through three courses from oysters to lemon meringue pie, they may well be hoping for a cooling sea breeze, or they may be too thrilled by the entertainment to notice. (John thinks the latter is likely.)
For a man who made his money travelling the world to source the world’s best timbers at the right price, then built up Sydney’s biggest high-end timber company and mass producer of frames and trusses, and finally sold the business for a motza and the land it stood on to Microsoft for $20 million, there is no excuse for holding back. When he says party he means hearty!
Happy birthday, John.
